


Please Don't Come Again

by LogicalBookThief



Series: Stan Protecting his Kids [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Daddy Issues, Gen, Stan's Left Hook, and how they bring people together, it plays a vital and satisfying role, ugh Filbrick, yes it deserves its own tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-28 19:56:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5103812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LogicalBookThief/pseuds/LogicalBookThief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After 15 years, Soos’s absentee father comes to Gravity Falls. He makes the mistake of visiting the Mystery Shack and meeting Stan Pines.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Please Don't Come Again

**Author's Note:**

> Posted this on tumblr way back in August and finally thought to cross-post it here! Because there can never be enough familial/fatherly Soos & Stan Pines feels.

In Stan’s line of work, it always paid to be a keen observer. Observation and perception were crucial to any con, and when the work you did was rarely legal, looking out for the fuzz became a necessity. And while nowadays he wasn’t under the constant threat of arrest, his skills of observation still came in handy.

Running a tourist attraction for nearly thirty years now, he could the regulars from the out-of-town visitors with barely a glance, and thus knew which approach to take when trying to sell merchandise. Take the guy in the corner, perusing through knickknacks - definitely a traveler, based on his manner and garb, and probably just a tourist passing through, based on his unfamiliar face.

“Welcome to the Mystery Shack, newcomer!” Stan greeted with flourish, dousing the man with the usual routine. “Interested in buying any of our priceless wonders?”

“Ahh, maybe. Just browsing, really,” the guy laughed sheepishly. “Not exactly a newcomer, either. Used to live here once upon a time.”

“Oh? What brings you back to town?” asked Stan. Maybe if he kept the conversation going and feigned interest in the guy’s life story, he could make a sale yet.

“Heh, you know. Financial troubles,” the guy answered vaguely, expression pinched.

Against his will, Stan’s annoyance tempered into something akin to sympathy. “I understand. Been there,” he huffed out. “I’m Stan Pines, by the way. Local man of mystery.”

“Raymond. Nice to meetcha,” the guy introduced, smiling. Stan couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something _eerily_ familiar about that toothy grin. “Plus, I’ve got a son I haven’t seen in a while. Figured I should check in, see how he is. Father stuff, whatever. He’s gotta be ‘round 19 now, I think?”

Stan tensed, spine straightening at the implication. Because as it happened, there was a certain fatherless nineteen-year-old that, though he never admitted it aloud, was very near and dear to his heart. And if this Raymond character _was_ who he suspected…

“This son of yours…” he questioned, faux-casually. “He wouldn’t go by the name of Ramirez, would he?”

“Yeah, that’s him!” Raymond confirmed. “Hey, you don’t know him, do you?”

“I ought to. He’s my handyman.”

“No kidding! Got a full-time job already then, huh?” Raymond whistled, impressed. “Champ’s done well for himself. He ain’t on duty right now, is he?”

“Sorry. He’s visiting family.” The word stuck in his throat, a bitter reminder of who this man was and his crimes against someone Stan cared about. Clearing his throat, he said, “Mind stepping into my office a minute, Ray? So we can have a lil’ man-to-man chat.”

“Uhh, sure, okay.” Raymond shrugged. He was a large man, probably where Soos inherited his height, but Stan had a life’s worth of struggle and fighting experience, along with righteous anger on his side.

So when he shut the door to his office, it didn’t take him long to have Ray shoved against it, clenched fist digging into the scruff of the other man’s shirt.

“Listen, you piece of shit,” Stan growled, low and severe, “I might have cataracts but make no mistake, I can smell a lie a mile away. Now I know your good-for-nothing ass isn’t here just to see the sights or visit your son. So what is it? Money? A kidney?”

Ray choked indignantly. “Hey, pal, where do you get off-?”

“Where do _I_ get off?” Stan cut in, practically spitting nails. “Where do _you_ get off, coming back after abandoning your son for how many years? After leaving him high and dry, year after year?”

The guy flinched as Stan’s grasp tightened. “I was busy, on the road-”

“So, _what,_ you suddenly found the spare time to visit when you’re strapped for finances?”

Face twisting, Ray relented in a stuttering voice, “I-I’m in a real bind. Like, I need cash _yesterday.”_

“Figures,” sneered Stan.

“Look, it’s tough out there, said it yourself, you understand-”

“No, I _don’t,”_ Stan snapped. “'Cause Gods knows if I had any family that wanted me to come home, I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

He took a deep breath, steadying himself. This wasn’t about him, Stan reminded, and he shouldn't go projecting his own daddy issues onto Soos. Nevertheless, it was hard to resist when he understood exactly what it was like to have a man who you held in such high esteem turn around and treat you like crap, and how utterly crippling that was to a kid. At the mere thought, Stan grew indignant on both his and Soos’s behalf, old wounds burning against his already boiling blood.

“But you’re no family to Soos. While you might be his blood, you certainly aren’t his father.” He sighed, releasing his grip on the shirt.

“Soos is a damn good kid. Little rough around the edges, a little childish, but nice to everyone he meets, and loyal to a fault. Best handyman I ever had, can fix anything.” _Except his relationship with you_. “I’d tell you it’s your loss, but given you’re a deadbeat bastard, I’d say it’s more likely his gain.”

Even knowing this to be true, however, even after everything this man had or hadn’t done - if confronted with his father, Stan feared that Soos would still give the guy a chance, and only end up with a broken heart. He feared this because he knew that he would have jumped for the chance to do _anything_ that would prove his worth to his own father, to earn his ticket home.

Another unfortunate parallel between him and Soos seemed to be that both of them wasted too much time trying to hold onto men who weren’t worth the trouble. And had fathers who had no comprehension or care for how their actions or words affected their sons, for better or worse.

“He doesn’t deserve to have you putting him through the emotional ringer like you have his entire life,” Stan stated with conviction, glaring directly at the other man. “So here’s the deal: I want you to leave town. _For good,_ this time. And to ensure that you don’t, I’m going to give you the money you need.”

“You’re _bribing_ me?” Raymond guffawed.

“Call it a thinly veiled threat,” Stan corrected acerbically. “I pay you, you don’t come 'round asking Soos for any favors ever again.”

As much as he wanted the man gone, it still hurt to hear him agree without putting up a fight, to let his son slip through his fingers so carelessly, and apparently without remorse.

With an admirable sense of calm, Stan doled out the money - a decent chunk of it, too, and he gave it all in cash - and followed Ray to the door, even held it open for him; a perfect host to the very end, at least to any hapless onlooker.

“Oh, and one last thing,” he added, waiting for Raymond to pause and turn to him in question before smashing his fist into the man’s nose, relishing in the startled squawk of pain and crunch of cartilage against his knuckles.

“Thank you for visiting the Mystery Shack,” said Stan cheerily, patented salesman smile oozing with menace. “Please don’t come again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Raymond isn’t Soos’s father’s canon name. I confess I only used it to justify my own lame 'Everybody hates Raymond’ joke. 
> 
> Feedback's always appreciated!


End file.
